Reports: Banished Clippers owner Sterling battling cancer

Reports: Banished Clippers owner Sterling battling cancer

(Photo: MGN Online)

LOS ANGELES — Los Angeles Clippers owner, who was banned from the league this week after racist statements he made to his girlfriend were recorded and released, is battling cancer, ESPN and the New York Post reported Friday.

The Post said Sterling, 80, has prostate cancer and has had it for an extended period of time.

On Tuesday, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver banned Sterling for life from the NBA and fined him $2.5 million after the racist remarks were published last weekend by TMZ. Silver will also urge the league’s owners to force Sterling to sell the team.

“If that is true, my thoughts and prayers are with him,” the Clippers’ Blake Griffin said after the team’s 100-99 playoff loss to the Golden State Warriors on Thursday night. “Nobody deserves to go through something like that.”

Guard Chris Paul said he hadn’t heard about the cancer, and neither had coach Doc Rivers.